Ace: Don't you wish this show would let up with the freakin' exposition? All we ever have anymore are talking heads yappity-yap-yapping or Spike prancing around with his shirt off. Would it kill Mutant Enemy to diversify a little? Why are all the trainees tiny brunettes? And don't you think it would have had so much more emotional impact if we had seen a bunch more of the other trainees being murdered over the course of the past eight episodes?
Sep: Good idea, but I fear the execution. Stock footage of Eiffel Tower. Girl in beret getting killed. Stock footage of Kremlin. Girl in fur hat getting killed. Stock footage of Taj Mahal. Girl in sari getting killed.
Ace: No kidding. This season is so low-budget they'd probably just use the same girl and paint her various shades of brown.

Buffy realizes that this is The First's plan -- to get rid of all the potential Slayers and their Watchers. "And then Faith. And then me." Well, maybe the other way around, Little Miss Self-Centered, since the Slayer line does go through Faith now. "And with all the potentials gone and no way of making another, it's the end," she continues. I always thought that Slayers were activated rather randomly, and that the Council could never be exactly sure who would be called, which is why they spent so much time seeking out and training potentials. But I suppose that if there isn't anyone around to tell her of her destiny, the next Slayer would waltz through life clueless about the whole thing. Willow mentions that they haven't found any info on The First, so Giles explains that it predates written history. Its origins predate written history? Okay, I buy that. But there should be some record of its activities in ancient texts. I find it pretty hard to believe that in four thousand years, the only thing The First Evil has done is fuck with Angel. No matter how annoying and mopey he was. Anya wants to know what the Council thinks of recent events, and Giles fills the Scoobies in on the Watchers getting themselves all blowed up. Willow displays more sympathy for the Watchers' books than for any of the people, demonstrating that she was prime Watcher material herself.